Gray wolf, once protected, is now imperiled

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After the gray wolf was taken off the endangered species list in March, hunters have gone on a shooting spree in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Now the federal government is debating whether to put the wolf back on the list.

As The Times’ Julie Cart reports out of Daniel, Wyo., wolves evoke passionate -- and sometimes mixed -- feelings in the Western states. Among the people she visits is rancher Merrill Dana:

‘Dana’s thoughts about wolves are complicated. He enjoys wildlife and readily acknowledges that the clever and strong wolf is especially fascinating. But after the controversial program to reintroduce the wolf in the 1990s, the animal has come to symbolize unwelcome federal meddling in rural Western lives and land.

‘For the time being, at least, wolves in the northern Rockies are back on the endangered species list while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reconsiders the issue. Federal officials are monitoring the wolf management programs in Montana and Idaho, which canceled its wolf hunt planned for this month. In Wyoming, federal wildlife officials took over wolf management while a committee of the Wyoming Legislature crafts a new policy.

‘It was a stunning reversal in what wildlife biologists had hailed as a success story. The species had flourished, its population growing by about 20% a year since wolves were reintroduced in Yellowstone National Park in 1995. This was proof the Endangered Species Act worked, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said when it delisted the wolf in March.’

The gray wolf population rose rapidly after the animals were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1995. Last year the population hit 1,513. So far this year, 225 have died, many in recent hunts. Read on for Cart’s full report on the gray wolf.

-- Steve Padilla